Business School Bootcamp for Therapists is closed down, and we are focusing on getting prepped for a rockin' and rollin' 2-week intensive experience! We can't wait! During the next 6 weeks we wanted to share a fun series we did on How to Start a Counseling Practice. We hope it inspires you! You are also invited to our upcoming webinar on starting a counseling practice from scratch! Just click here.

Launching a private practice is an exciting and terrifying proposition for most therapists. The truth is, many of us were trained in non-profit, agency environments and developing a vision of a for-profit business is foreign.

Therapists also often have limited experience talking or thinking about money and starting a private practice is starting a business. A business is about making money by definition.

So, where do you start when creating the perfect private practice for you? It all starts with creating the right vision. Truth be told, there are a LOT of different kinds of private practices:

Agency like insurance group practices focused on group, 1:1 services, and low-fee workshops for the community

And, of course, there are examples of each of these models that are profitable, and examples that are not profitable (i.e. does the person bring home a decent wage). In some cases, the owners of the practice are profitable, while the employees are not. In other cases, the employees are profitable and the owner is losing money.

There are also great examples of private practices that start that are incredibly profitable, but the mental and emotional toll on the owner and/or employees isn’t sustainable.

Creating the right vision for your private practice

The first step to creating a great private practice, is to be honest with yourself about what you enjoy, and what you need to provide truly awesome clinical services. For some of you that means having employees, for others it means working on your own.

Some of you will be inspired by speaking to small or large groups, while others will be inspired by writing or taking photographs (yes this does matter when building a private practice). So let’s start with a “what do I like assessment?

Determine Your Private Practice Vision

Answer the following questions honestly to determine what you need to build into your perfect private practice vision:

I feel energized by speaking

I feel my most authentic when writing

I love supervising other people

I am best when I’m on my own

I grow most when in small consultation groups

I grow most when I got to intensive trainings

I grow most when I work with a private mentor

I get energized by working with many diverse clients

If I’m being honest- my best work is done with a smaller caseload

I love one-to-one relationship building

I love going to big group networking events

I love providing consultation and have something great to teach the world

I have a big goal that requires me to carve out weekly time (phd, book, etc.)

I work best when I have _______ free time each week

I love working with insurance and really get how it works

I’m not great with billing and organization and it’s best if I get paid immediately so there is less for me to track.

There are so many questions to explore when developing the right private practice for you. Honestly, it is something that starts with you. Your homework: Sit down with a cup of tea, and start to getting these things clarified. Whether you write it down, draw it on a white-board, type it up in a trello board- start to get clear about what you want!

Here is your free mini-workbook on getting clear with your vision. We included a bunch more questions for you to explore while you are doing your homework- click below to download!

I have successfully built a cash pay psychotherapy practice from scratch on
a shoestring budget. I have also failed a licensed exam by 1 point (only to
have the licensing board send me a later months later saying I passed),
started an online study group to ease my own isolation and have now reached
thousands of therapists across the country, helped other therapists market
their psychotherapy practices, and helped awesome business owners move from
close to closing their doors, to being profitable in less than 6 weeks.
I've failed at launching online programs. I've had wild success at
launching online programs. I've made mistakes in private practice I've
taught others how to avoid my mistakes. You can do this. You were called to
this work. Now- go do it! Find some help or inspiration as you need it- but
do the work!